06:30AM We all had a good night sleep and woke up early to prepare for our island hopping tour. Waking up to the sounds of nature was something we, as urban nocturnal creatures, badly needed. The room that we had in Gran Vista was a basic fan room. We didn't need A/C rooms as the cool wind of the province was more than enough to lull us to sleep. Even though we were really exhausted from climbingMt. Tapyas the day before, we were all enthusiastic about the day's activities.

The rock formations in Coron Island

07:00AM Our P120-breakfast meal consisted of coffee, hotdog, longganisa, and dried fish. It was raining quite hard so Kuya Bobby, our tour guide, advised us to wait until around 8:30 to 9:00 before we could go to the port. We were all praying for the rain to stop.

Rain, rain go away.

09:30AM We arrived at the wharf and met our boatmen. They were an uncle-nephew tandem who came all the way from Sorsogon to Coron to try their luck here. Their boat, Ton Ton, was big enough for our group (6 adults + 1 kid). The capacity of the boat, I think, is 20pax. Ms. Gigi charged us P2000 (boat only) for the Coron Island Loop Tour.

our boatman

10:00AM, Siete Pecados Marine Park Siete Pecados was our first stop for the day. It's only 20 minutes from the port. Entrance fee is P100/head. We also bought some bread in town earlier so we could feed the fish.

Don'ts and don'ts in Siete Pecados

After wearing some sunblock, life vest and snorkeling mask (which we rented from Gran Vista for P100/head/day), we hurriedly dived into the waters of Siete Pecados. Here are some underwater shots taken using a Samsung SL620.

In my opinion, the underwater scenery here ain't that great. I remember the first time I went here I was also not that impressed. We didn't spend too much time here and decided to leave for the next spot after 30 minutes.

10:45AM, Kayangan Lake We arrived at the twice-declared cleanest lake in Asia, the Kayangan Lake, after 15 minutes of sea travel. Entrance fee is P150/person.

Sometimes the most beautiful places are the hardest to reach. Kayangan Lake is one of them. We had to endure the muddy and slippery steps to the top, before we could go down to see the clear lake. But the lake ain't the only must-see spot here. The Blue Lagoon, one of the most photographed places in Coron, offers a scenic view from from top.

Kayangan lake is one of the most visited spots in Coron, as evidenced by the crowded docking area.

View of Blue Lagoon from Kayangan Lake

Group shot at the resting area

Group shot outside the cave

After about 15 minutes of picture taking, we continued to go down to swim in the lake. Finally, after half an hour of trekking, we caught sight of the lake.

Kayangan Lake

Life vest + snorkeling mask + underwater camera for a good time in Kayangan Lake

There's not much fish in the lake but I still enjoyed snorkeling because of the underwater rock formations, which, by the way, are very sharp!

'tis what I'm talkin' about, errrbody!

What's underwater

Toto must have been a syokoy in his previous life :p

There's also a cave that we entered very carefully as the rocks were equally sharp. Not a place for super clumsy and careless people (like me, but I survived!). It's like a mini underground cave.

At around 12 noon, we decided to get out of the water and return to our boat. Our boatmen have just finished grilling food for our lunch, and boy were we all excited to eat!

12:40PM We arrived at Banol beach, the only non-open water spot that we would visit for the Coron Island tour. Entrance fee is P100/head and there's another P100-fee for cottage rental. While Kuya Bobby prepared our lunch, we decided to do a little bit of walking around the area.

Banol Beach

Finally, it was time for us to eat lunch. We had grilled fish, grilled pork, cucumber and watermelon for lunch. Yum! :)

Day 2 lunch

After lunch, Kuya Bobby told us that we could go to the other side of Banol Beach. It was only now that I learned that the other end of the beach was also open to tourists (until July 1, 2012).

We didn't swim here because the water was so dirty due to sea grass and there were dangerous creatures (read: jellyfish) lurking around. Hihi. Besides, we've been swimming and snorkeling the whole day. We left the beach at 2:00pm and headed to the skeleton wreck site.

02:15PM We arrived at the skeleton ship wreck but the "parking area" was so full that we had to wait until one of the boats left so we could secure a spot near the ship wreck. But while waiting, we decided to snorkel in the shallow part of the site and these were what we saw:

I wouldn't go near these sea urchins!

Corals in the shallow part of the skeleton wreck site.

fish!

When we finally got near the ship wreck site, we couldn't see anything decent because the sun wasn't shining. The ship wreck was also very deep that the only thing we could see was the front tip of its body or the bow (okay, I even had to google "parts of a ship" haha). The water was also very itchy to the skin for some reason so we decided to return to our boat. I think we scared off some of the tourists when we started yelling, "ang kati, ang kati!" They were probably thinking that there were jellyfish around the area and got scared ;p

We left for the Twin Lagoon at around 3:00 in the afternoon. We were a little bit disappointed with our experience in the Skeleton Wreck site but the breathtaking rock formations more than made up for it.

WOW Coron!

03:15PM Like in Kayangan Lake, the docking area in Twin Lagoon was also crowded. Good thing there was enough "parking space" for the boats, unlike in the Skeleton Wreck site.

The entrance to the lagoon.

Entrance fee is P50/person. There was a balsa (raft) that the tourists can use to go inside the lagoon. Tourists can also just swim since life vests are provided but we opted to take the raft :)

Yenyen enjoying the balsa ride :)

This was one of the places I enjoyed the most during our Coron Island tour. We were able to go around the lagoon easily because of the raft. It was also very quiet inside the lagoon.

View from the inside of the lagoon. The calm water is perfect for kayaking!

At 4:00PM, we decided it's time to go home but we taught there's still some time for picture taking :) We would have stayed longer if not for the guests who were waiting for their turn to use the raft.

Outside the lagoon, near the docking area

Ate Pong "driving" us to our boat while the other guests waited for their turn.

Twin Lagoon was a perfect site to end our Coron Island tour. I enjoyed it this time compared to the last time we went there (circa 2009). On our way home, we were once again amazed by the rock formations in Coron Island. I felt really happy and lucky to have visited this paradise twice in this lifetime. The Philippines is really beautiful.

Rock formations in Coron Island

Below is a map that shows that sites included in the Coron Islan Loop Tour before July 1, 2012. Fortunately or unfortunately, some of these sites have been closed due to a local ordinance. You can read more about which sites are now closed here.

Thanks! Coron is so photogenic that it doesn't really take a pro to get amazing shots. I mean even during the rainy season it's still picture perfect! Coron is still my favorite place in the Philippines ♥